~ miscellaneous musings

Tag Archives: John Hurt

magnificent, prolific, versatile with a distinctively regal, sandpaper voice, looking back at the late John Hurt’s numerous credits, it’s astonishing how many of his film projects I was exposed to in my formative youth – alien, watership down, the elephant man, the plague dogs, the animated lord of the rings, 1984, scandal – it felt like i grew up with him, the somewhat dissolute, craggyfaced uncle with a razorsharp wit and a heightened sense of his own mortality. from the late 60’s up until the present, hurt worked consistently on film, television and the stage consistently working with interesting directors and never seemed to age. his lived in, somewhat frail physicality always made him seem old or older than he was thus he never seemed to age. there were few better actors at conveying weariness, wisdom, venality, suffering, eccentricity, quiet intelligence, gentle defiance from his breakthough in 1966 with A Man for All Seasons up until his recent supporting role alongside natalie portman in Pablo Lorrain’s Jackie in 2016. he will be missed.Continue reading →

There is very little I can add to any analysis or opinion of this scene and it’s constituent film without diminishing it’s emotional power. It is on of the most moving scenes in cinema; a lesson in the art acting, directing, photography, scoring and editing that makes Oliver Stone‘s appropriation of the music used here, Samuel Barbers iconic Adagio for Strings for his Oscar winningPlatoon in 1986 seem clumsy, graceless and second hand.

Maybe that’s unfair but I’ve always felt Barber’s intensely sad piece was used more artfully in Lynch‘s film. Having discovered The Elephant Man in my late teens after having see that iconic scene in Platoon of Willem Dafoe‘s Elias dying Christ like in a hail of bullets numerous times, I soon found it difficult to separate Barber’s music from The Elephant Man and his poignantly rendered story. Stone’s emotional pleading in that scene suddenly felt somewhat fraudulent. I don’t know why.

Just on an intuitive level, this final death scene in The Elephant Man seemed more earnest, more true and heartfelt; the work of a true artist and his talented collaborators somehow transcending and navigating beyond the intellectual towards the spiritual, entering directly into one’s heart and soul untainted by cynicism.